Ice
by Wolfepup
Summary: Only what's trully feared can a dying world, will Jedi Knight Tari survive to tell them the secret?


All the usual disclaimers, blah blah. But, all of the characters besides Yoda are from the dusty corners of my own mind, please don't use them, I have…other plans in store for them in upcoming stories. ;)

Historian's Note: This story takes place roughly 100 years before Phantom Menace

Rating: PG

* * *

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

-Aaron Rose

****

Ice

Tari wrapped his robe tight around his shoulders. The bitter cold of this world conspired against him, digging its icy grip into every muscle. The bright glare of a frigid sun reflected up from the snow and bore into the back of his skull. Karra curled up next to him under his robe, shivering.

The bleak skeletons of leafless trees laced the impossibly blue sky. Tari licked chapped lips, the dry cold air seeping every gram of moisture from the environment. His breath clouded the still air, seconds before fading into the cold.

Silence echoed in the still forest. Karra's body was warm against his own, her arms wrapped around his waist. Tari adjusted his robes over her shoulders better, resting his arm on her back.

They sat in a hollow devoid of snow, sandwiched between a fallen tree, its halo of airborne roots reaching for the sky like so many fingers, and a boulder. Hunger gnawed at his belly. Two days ago, their treacherous pilot had marooned them on this frozen world. Greed had infused every fiber of the man's being when offered a generous sum to deposit a Jedi on this world. The sum was increased when two Jedi huddled freezing on this distant planet.

Tari had sensed the man's greed, but too late. They were already aboard, Karra flinging herself about their quarters, commenting on this feature or that. The ship had shuddered under their feet, and they had left the accommodation of Tari's old friend, Garbonn the Hutt.

The pilot had drugged their food and dropped them in the middle of this desolate forest. A few boxes of food and extra clothes and the stark black trees were all that greeted them when they awoke, shivering with cold. 

He sensed Karra drawing the Force around herself, trying to use it to keep her slight form warm. Tari pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He relaxed, letting the Force guide his thoughts.

Shortly after their abandonment on this world, Tari had sensed a great gathering of life. For two days they had traveled over snowfields and skeletal forests. The life had grown closer. But Karra was beginning to doubt herself, her ability to overcome the intense cold. She was losing hope.

He shivered, despite the odd gift of the extra clothes. What food was left from the ship was now reduced to mere crumbs in their pockets. The black trees etched endless lacy patterns against the impossibly blue sky, with their shadowy counterparts gracing the gentle swell of the snowdrifts.

The shadows of the trees danced across his foot, a slight wind scampering among the branches like some living thing. The Force warned Tari and Karra. She raised her head from under a fold in his robe. "We need to move again, don't we?"

Tari shook his head. "No, I sense something else."

The wind pushed hard against the trees, the dry branches creaking and rubbing together. Distant snaps and crashes marked trees that lost the battle with the rising wind. The blazing blue sky shifted color, becoming darker, distant clouds racing each other for domination of the forest. Tari pulled himself and Karra deep into the crevice between the halo of roots and the boulder.

Fat snowflakes lazily drifted from the clouds, chasing away the cold sun. Faster and faster they fell, in greater and greater numbers, spurred on by the winds. Trees shuddered, dropping branches and snow into the forest. The winds howled past the stranded Jedi, both trying to hold to their robes and each other as best as they could.

The storm raged, releasing its full fury into the hapless forest. Snow piled up against Karra and Tari, small comfort against the biting winds. They buried their faces into each other and deeper into the gap between root and rock, trying to avoid the sting of the snow and the cold. The life that Tari had been following rose up in a great surge. Tari gasped, the heat of the life almost searing. It reared, and the storm rose in reply. A giant tree gave up on its fight of the winds, its massive root system lifting out of the ground, bits of frozen earth whipping into the storm as they fell loose. The life rose to combat the tree, barely diverting its course past the stranded Jedi and onto the already prone tree next to them.

Karra screamed, her fear overpowering all of Tari's senses.

The storm raged into the night, but they were protected by the bulk of the newly fallen tree. They were almost hidden among the branches that laced into their scant shelter. 

Karra pulled herself from Tari's grasp. He could see the fear in her eyes, controlled, but present. Without speaking, she pulled out her lightsaber and carved away branches that had violated their sanctuary. She kicked and pulled at vagrant limbs, pushing some overhead for protection from the snow, and weaving some into the sides to shield from the winds. She leaned forward, yanking a branch out of Tari's grasp. Fire burst forth from Tari's thigh. He clamped his hands around the wound in his leg, not letting his apprentice see his pain. Quickly, he tore off a section of his robe and wrapped it around his thigh. He pushed a branch out of his way, and assisted his Padawan in the securing of their structure.

The storm continued unabated deep into the night, the two stranded Jedi clinging to each other for warmth. It seemed as if strange, distant voices called out to them on the incessant howl of the winds.

"_Come out to us, we are warm_," they whispered hungrily.

"_Come walk with us, come dance in our breeze_," crooned a gust spiraling around their shelter.

The voices laughed, taunting the Jedi. Karra shivered, her face buried in Tari's chest. His leg throbbed in time to the taunting winds and his own heartbeat. The pain, now distant in Tari's mind, was an anchor, and he held onto it as hard as he held onto the shoulders of his Padawan. He reached for the Force, and it came to him, bright and pure through the storm's fury.

"_No…come to us…."_

Tari resisted, letting wave after wave of the calm of the Force wash over himself and Karra. Soon, Karra relaxed and reached out for the Force as well.

"_Nnnooooo…..Come out to us……."_

The Force rose around them, a cocoon of peace and strength.

Dawn broke, the forest blanketed in another fresh layer of snow. Karra pushed her head and shoulders out of their shelter, now under a meter of the new snow. Drifts piled around them, some taller than most buildings. She crawled out, exhausted. Tari wearily pulled himself out of the shelter after her, only to lie panting at her side.

"Worst storm yet."

Karra nodded, dusting the snow off of her robes. Tari pulled himself to his feet, but his injured thigh surprised him, collapsing under his weight. Karra was at his side in an instant, concern coloring her features. Tari rested, letting the Force flow through him, accepting the pain of his wound. Karra noticed the hastily prepared bandage.

With a nod from Tari, she removed the blood-soaked bandage. It was an ugly wound, a jagged puncture delivered by a falling tree. She pressed her hands on either side of the wound, letting the Force flow through it. "It's not going to stop bleeding." Her green eyes gazed into her Master's gray.

The hiss of a lightsaber and the sear of blade against flesh rent the still morning air

Tari groaned, his hands locked tightly around the handle of his own lightsaber as Karra's weapon kissed his wound, closing it and stopping the bleeding.

She deactivated her lightsaber, the stench of burnt flesh drifting on the still air. "I'm sorry, Master Tari. The wound was deep." She wiped the sweat from his forehead as he wrapped the Force around himself, concentrating on easing the pain in his leg and beginning the process of healing.

Karra pushed ahead, clearing the trail for Tari. Their path meandered along between the drifts, the sense of the life drawing them closer.

Tari had started healing his wound, but most of his energy was directed at their path. Something was bothering Karra, a dark blot of her emotions coloring the Force. He halted her with a hand on her arm.

Karra spun, her guilt clouding her eyes. She had failed her Master, she should've sensed the tree falling, should've been able to deflect the branch that bitten so viciously into his thigh. She should've known that the branch he was holding so fiercely had speared into him, and that pulling it out had caused the wound to worsen. If she had just paid more attention, the wound wouldn't be as bad as it was.

Tari looked down at her, concerned. "Karra, you did what you had to do."

"But your leg!"

"It will heal." He leaned against a tree, a drift of snow higher than his head rising behind it. "In all our lives, we make decisions we wish we had made some other way. Feeling guilty won't help this wound heal any faster." Tari held her chin, forcing her to look at him. "We must accept what we cannot change, Karra. Learn from the past, don't berate yourself for it."

What a fool she had been. First his leg, and now this lecture. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed. "I almost caused you to lose your life and all you can say is accept it!?"

Tari sensed her anger rising. "Karra—"

"No! No more lectures, no more talks! I will find a way out of here! Just follow me." She spun, stalking off into the forest. Tari sensed the life around him rising to meet her. He felt it rise through his body, and reach out to Karra. For one of them to leave the forest alive, both had to make the journey together. It pulled Karra to Tari, releasing its hold of her in front of his feet. Tari gasped as the life energy withdrew, not quite the Force. He couldn't touch it, could barely sense it. One second it was there, one second it was not.

Karra stood, glaring at Tari. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." He rested his head on the top of a walking stick salvaged from the branches of a fallen tree. "I was standing here, and whatever life this forest has brought you back to me."

Karra looked stricken, emotions warring inside of her. Shame, guilt, and anger all had their stay in her odd eyes. "We will get through this, we will get to a settlement." He looked at her, and she saw a faith that had not been diminished. Tari trusted her, and it filled her with strength. "Both of us."

He glanced up as an errant breeze teased the hand-like branches of the trees as they reached for the solitary white cloud. "We need to find shelter soon."

Karra nodded. "Stay here and rest. I won't get lost." A mischievous smile and she scampered off into the forest, her footprints trailing after her in the snow. Tari watched her receding back, soon hidden among the drifts.

She was entirely too hard on herself. Every mistake, no matter how slight, was a grievous error. And that pride of hers, always rising to defend herself, even when it was not needed. Tari sighed, the cold numbing his toes. He wiggled them to keep them warm.

He relaxed, trying to meditate. The odd life of the forest pushed against the Force, just out of reach but not out of touch. It resisted him, and he could feel himself resist it. The strange life felt very old and moderately intelligent. It questioned him.

An odd sense of urgency underlined the life. The forest knew something was about to happen. Tari relaxed, letting his mind wander deeper into the Force, letting the waves wash over him. Fire burst forth into his mind, a vision of complete destruction. Limbs reached out of the flames like hands striving for freedom. Smoke rose to eclipse the cold sun. Tari gasped, but he let the vision run its course.

Karra stood tall and proud on a rise in the center of the fire, Tari sitting on the ground next to her, his lightsaber glowing in his hand.

Tari opened his eyes, the bright light of the sun glaring off of the snow and temporarily blinding him. Confusion danced through his mind. Why would he and Karra start a fire to destroy this forest? The life dwelling beneath the trees rose, warming his feet. Tari stared at the ground, surprised.

The forest welcomed the fire. He reached out and touched a tree, easing himself into the rhythms of the Force. The tree was alive, its energy stored deep within its roots, but something was not quite right. The energy not deep enough into the roots, the living wood not quite alive enough. He pulled off a section of the bark, and it crumpled easily into his hand. Under a thin layer of black was the normal brown bark. Billions upon billions of spores of some kind ate away at the tree, at the thin layer of tissue under the bark that provided life.

Tari looked around him, every tree silhouetted starkly against the snow in clearly defined black outlines. Black branches arced overhead to lace the brilliant blue sky. Black trunks disappeared into pure white snowdrifts. No leaves graced the naked branches, hanging on by sheer determination. Dead moss covered a few of the trunks in sporadic patches.

The forest was dying.

A small animal drug its starved body through a tunnel it had made in a nearby drift. Tari limped over and dug it up, the creature too weak to become enraged and bite. He reached into his pocket and drew out what little he had left of his food. The creature almost inhaled the meager tidbit, then gazed up at the Jedi, wide brown eyes pleading for more. "I'm sorry, I don't even have crumbs left."

The creature chittered its reply. Karra burst forth from behind a drift, breathless. Her face was flushed and her ears were red. "I found a cave," she gasped. "And it's warm!" She noticed the small creature curled in Tari's palm. It chittered, scampering into Tari's robes. "What was that?"

"I don't know."

Karra shrugged, and Tari followed her between the drifts. Soon they encountered a drift higher that Tari's head that Karra had to climb. She easily pulled herself up, quickly turning to lend him a hand. Tari smiled, the bright white light of his lightsaber vanishing into the drift. In seconds, he had carved his way through. The lone log crossing their path yielded to the might of Karra's lightsaber, but the rockfall they had to climb did not.

Karra danced gracefully from one rock to another, the Force guiding her steps. Tari grunted, stabbing his walking stick into a gap between the boulders. Karra paced impatiently in the cave, warming her hands and waiting for Tari to drag himself up the rockfall. It wasn't that steep, she had no difficulty climbing it. But his leg worried her, and she peered down at him. Tari had discarded his walking stick, it was now merely a stark black line against the snow. He was pulling himself up the rockfall, his right leg dangling uselessly behind him. Soon, she grasped his forearm and pulled him the rest of the way into the cave opening.

"How is your leg?"

"Fine, sore, but not any worse off than when we got here."

Karra smiled, helping him to his feet, Tari leaned heavily on her. "The cave goes a ways into the hill, then there's a hot spring bubbling right into the middle of it."

Tari smiled, wrapping his robe tighter around his body. The biting cold had ventured into the mouth of the cave, but its bite was not as intense as in the forest. Snow swirled around their feet in errant breezes. The creature nosed its way out of Tari's sleeve, its little black muzzle quivering in the cool cave air. It chittered at Tari.

Karra eyed the creature, and they regarded each other for a few minutes. 

It chirped, wrapping its tail, a small whip-like appendage barely able to circle his wrist, around his arm. Karra giggled. "Where did you find that?"

"In a snow drift."

She nodded, and the creature darted back into Tari's sleeve. The winds shifted, and a brief gust of warm air drifted up to greet them to the cave. As soon as it was felt, it was gone. The creature poked its head out of Tari's sleeve, chittered, and jumped onto the floor, darting into the cave. Tari limped after it, the wound in his leg burning with the effort. Karra offered her shoulder for support.

"How bad is your leg?"

"Bad enough. I can't seem to be able to heal it very well."

Karra shifted his arm about her shoulder, the much taller Tari stooping for the support. "I wonder if that has anything to do with this life we keep sensing."

She helped Tari navigate the rock-strewn cave floor as it sloped deeper and deeper into the hill. The floor was oddly flat, the walls rising around them in jagged natural formations. Soon, Karra activated her lightsaber, casting the cave in an eerie blue glow. A red light seeped from within the cave, rising to greet her lightsaber's glow. The two colors of light mingled in a violet haze.

Warmth greeted them, the cold of the forest banished. The air was heavy and wet, the scent of sulfur permeating the air and torturing their nostrils. Tari wrinkled his nose.

The creature perched on a rock near a turn in the tunnel, its thin tail held high behind it. It leaned forward, its ears quivering. It chittered louder, encouraging the Jedi to walk faster.

The sudden heat was almost overwhelming. "I need to stop."

Karra lowered Tari to the cave floor. The creature scampered up to him, perched on his knee, and chittered inquisitively. Tari smiled, his injured leg stretched out on the cave floor. "Patience, my friend. After all that cold, we need to get used to the heat."

Karra sat back on her heels. "The heat's not that bad." She placed a hand on his forehead. "How long have you had this fever?"

Tari rested his head against the cave wall. "Not long."

"It's pretty bad." She started to pull the bandage off of the wound. Without a word, Tari handed over his lightsaber, and the brilliant white light of its blade illuminating the cave with better clarity than Karra's blue. She wedged his lightsaber between a few rocks, her lightsaber deactivated and resting next to it. Carefully she peeled back the stiff layers of the bandage. A low whistle escaped from her lips.

The wound was angry and raw, the flesh surrounding it red and sore. The veins in Tari's leg stood out in stark contrast to his pale flesh. Sad eyes looked into Tari's, and he nodded.

The burn that had stopped the wound from bleeding lay open and bitter. The stench of sickness overpowered the sulfur from the cave. Tari closed his eyes, letting himself flow with the Force. The life of the forest rose to greet him, an odd sadness coloring its tone. It was trying to tell him something, but he was unable to listen.

A sharp crack resounded in the cave as Karra smashed a rock apart. She held up one half, the broken edge jagged but very sharp. A quick pass by the blade of a lightsaber and the makeshift knife was clean. She placed one hand on Tari's thigh, just above the wound.

Tari clenched his teeth as she cleaned the wound. He could feel the fever burning inside of him, rushing forward faster than any sickness he had ever experienced. The creature paced, but it kept silent, watching Karra as she administered to Tari's wound.

The distant sun had set, the frigid winds of the night knifing their way deep into the cave. Tari rested against the wall, a new bandage wrapped around the wound. Karra regarded her Master, blood covering her hands. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible, but alive." He gazed at her with half-opened gray eyes. "I will let you know of anything changes."

Karra nodded, the creature skittering from behind her and darting once more into Tari's sleeve. Very slowly, she helped him to his feet. He grimaced, barely holding his injured leg above the floor.

Waves of heat wrapped themselves around the Jedi as they rounded the turn of the cave tunnel. Soft red light glowed from crystals jutting at random angles from the walls. A simmering pool dominated the middle of the cave, its depths lit by more of the strange crystals. Karra lowered Tari onto some soft sand at the pool's edge.

Herds of large four-legged prey beasts stampeded the cave walls, jumping over and under the red crystals. Humanoid forms chased after them, bird-like creatures dancing overhead. In every shade of brown they ran, jumped, and danced over the walls. A three-legged, two headed mythical beast rose high above a ledge in one wall, an equally mythical winged humanoid raising it weapon to defeat it. 

Karra gazed in amazement at the art on the walls. The life of a people unknown to her detailed on the timeless rock of the cavern.

Tari had turned his head to the side, his face hidden from his student. Sleep had overcome his fever-clouded mind. Karra balled up her robe, placing it under her Master's head. She sat down next to him.

She breathed slowly. The air hot and heavy in her lungs. The Force was around her, the walls of the caves, the ancient animals acting out the balance between life and death. The Force reached into the past.

A short man, his back covered in thick fur, reached up to run a finger dipped in deep brown pigment across the rough surface of the cave. In deft strokes he captured the grace of a creature, its slender legs pawing the air, its head raised in proud defiance. He had killed this creature that very day. His respect for the life it had given so he could continue to live wove its way throughout the painting. He chanted the song an echo of the beating of the creature's heart, his words whispering on the winds of time.

She opened her eyes, the creature of the painting running across the cave from her. One foreleg was lifted higher than the other, the head tall and proud in stark profile against the rock. The power of the man's belief, his respect for the world, had echoed far into the present.

Karra stood and walked over to the painting. Another creature running for its life now covered part of its hindquarters. Her fingers barely brushed the surface of the rock. That man had believed, and he had trusted his beliefs before he had trusted anything else. That animal had let him take its life, and the man respected it for its sacrifice. 

Tari stirred in his sleep, his brow furrowed.

Heat. Searing heat surrounded the Jedi. Tari stood in the midst of it, flames licking at his feet but not burning him. The forest rose, black skeletons emerging from the endless flame. They reached their branches out to him, hands of wood splitting and cracking in the heat. Branches burst apart, and leaves, green perfect leaves, drifted out of the wounds like blood. The fire drew back from the leaves, and soon the ground was covered in green.

The sky arced black and foreboding over Tari's head as he stood in the middle of a featureless field of green, perfect leaves. He held his hand in front of his face, a single flame dancing on his palm.

He awoke to Karra gently shaking his shoulders. She gazed down at him, her brow creased with worry. "Your fever has gotten worse. I need to take you outside."

She pulled Tari to his feet, the cavern spinning dizzily. He staggered, placing one hand on the wall for support. A nimble deer jumped lightly over his fingers, its hooves racing a natural red streak in the rock of the cave wall. The seam of red rock wavered, shimmering its fevered heat after the deer. The Force tempered his vision, the fire coupled with urgency, the shimmering haze a path of hope. The deer was not afraid as it dashed over his fingers.

Karra looked at Tari, her strange green eyes darting from his face to the wall. "What do you see?"

"Fire," whispered the older Jedi. Sweat dripped sluggishly off of his brow.

Karra wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling the dazed Tari from the wall. His eyes lingered on the fleeing deer. His injured leg drug along the ground, spears of agony lancing their way up his side. Karra wasted no time, and soon he lay sprawled in the snow that had drifted in the cave.

Stark black branches grasped onto the clouds, holding them fast in the bright blue sky. Tari closed his eyes against the glare, the cool of the snow seeping into his fevered body. He barely felt Karra pull the sweat and sickness soaked bandages from his thigh. He did feel her quick thrust as she removed the infected flesh with careful strokes of the makeshift knife and her lightsaber, the Force directing her just how to cut and swing. The stench of burnt flesh wafted from the cave.

Tari raised his hand, beseeching her to stop. "Karra," he croaked softly. "The infection is gone."

She lowered her lightsaber. "But your fever."

"Let me rest here."

Karra knelt next to his head, the wound open to the dry, clean air. She held onto his hand, his heartbeat thundering in his fingers.

"That wound was not normal." Tari turned his head to look at her. He could feel Karra draw the Force around herself, feel it ease into the damage on his leg, and soothe the ravages of the fever. "It shouldn't have become infected that bad, that soon."

Karra reached into Tari's body with the Force, her Master too weak to assist. He relaxed, letting the waves of her gently controlled Force sweep through him. "You almost died. A few more hours and you would have." Fear clouded her voice, distant and pained. Tari remembered a Jedi, slightly older that Karra, kneeling over the grave of his Master on a long-forgotten moon. Mar-Dhn's wise eyes gazed over the pair, the Force and the strange life of this world soothing the mind of a once-lost Jedi Padawan.

The life rose higher, quietly into Tari's mind. It wrapped the vision of fire, of rebirth around his eyes. It seemed as if the world was on fire, but there was no heat. The Force danced around the flames from the life of the forest, but it didn't interfere with the fire.

The wind shifted, and a fine dusting of black spores drifted onto the gray-dusted snow. Black death fell like soft clouds from the trees.

"The spores."

Karra looked at him, surprised. "What about the spores?"

"I had a dream in the cave, about the forest burning and green leaves pouring out of the burns. The spores on that branch made me sick, and the heat of your lightsaber killed them."

Realization dawned on Karra, her green eyes passing over the black forest. "We have to burn the forest."

The creature chittered happily, jumping up and down in its excitement. A sense of pleasure oozed from the little animal. Tari nodded, his head resting on the ground. The snow melted from the heat of his head and cold water seeped into his hair. "The fire I keep seeing will destroy the spores."

Karra chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip, a small pointed canine peeking out of her mouth. "Someone paid our pilot to drop us here. I don't want to burn them in this forest. We don't even know how big it is."

The creature sat on its haunches, its head turned sharply to one side. It chittered, scampering forward to rest its tiny paws on Tari's sleeve. _"Chirriitt, chiirt, chiriit?"_

Tari smiled. "Sorry friend. I can't understand you."

_"Chirrit. Chirrr chirrit chirrit."_ It pulled harder on his sleeve.

Karra waved her hand at it. "Wait," she growled. It stopped, innocent black eyes gazing up at her. "He is tired. He can't go anywhere until he rests." The anger and annoyance in her voice was barely controlled. The creature backed off, chittered, and scampered off to perch on top of a nearby boulder.

"Be patient with it, Karra."

"I'm trying. Patience is not easy."

Tari laughed quietly. "Never is."

She leaned against the side of the cave opening, her green eyes scanning the oddly quiet forest. "You make it seem so easy."

"I learned to accept what I cannot change. I had to adapt, adjust to the new situations without forgetting who and what I am. It's never easy."

"I keep telling myself what Yoda told me. 'Anger is the path to the Dark Side.' But I want so much to reach out with it. To do what is right and do it now."

Tari rolled his head to the side, his student peering away from him and into the desolate trees. "The Dark Side is tempting. It had tempted all of us. Our true strength lays in how we resist it, in how we fight it."

Karra pulled her robes tight around herself, shivering from a cold that soothed the body of Tari. "I want to do what's right."

"We all do, but sometimes doing what's right means waiting."

She scowled. "I do not like to wait."

The prone Jedi smiled. "None of us do." He yawned, his eyes growing heavy. "It has been a long day, Karra." He held an arm out to her. "Help me up and I promise I will stop ranting about the virtues of doing nothing for a while." A smile lit up his eyes.

Karra laughed, quickly wrapping a new bandage around his thigh and escorting Tari into the cave.

Stars glittered like diamonds in the black velvet sky. Runs With Shadows gazed up at the endless heavens. Her familiar, her friend and companion, rested on her knee.

_"Chiiriiitt?"_

"I don't know, Browning. All we can do is hope they heard our message."

_"Chiiirrrr, chiirit."_

The moon rose, cold and fat, silhouetting the forest. Dark claws of branches reached for the stars, trying to pluck them from the sky. Runs With Shadows was worried, her dark gray hair teased by the winds. Browning chittered quietly. The life that ran through this world, the spirit she and her people had worshiped and honored for generations was weakening. The Great Tree of the Forest, the guardian of the souls was dying.

And with it, her planet.

Karra gazed out over the dying forest. The creature sat next to her, it small tail wrapped around its legs. It had snowed during the night. The stark trees almost beautiful in their shrouds of white, brittle branches dripping with crystalline icicles. The snow a merciful blanket, covering the damage the spores had wrought on the forest and the blood from her Master. The patch of snow was less than a meter to her left, all traces of what had transpired covered.

Patience, Tari had said. Karra wanted to burst forth into the forest, blazing lightsaber swinging right and left, the spores sizzling under the power of its blade. She was standing, her arms wrapped around her slight frame. She must wait.

The forest might be inhabited, or it was at one time. The pictures on the cave walls attested to the presence of at least one culture. Who had drawn those pictures, and how long ago? It was hard to tell in the dusky light of the cave.

Twilight shadows drifted over the snow as the sun set. Violets and purples danced out from behind the trees, and the nightly winds gently shook them. Karra paced, her feet tracing out the patterns of her restlessness. This was their second night in the cave, and she desired to leave, to explore the frozen forest. 

"You forget so quickly what it was like out there." Tari's soft voice wafted up to her. Karra turned, her Master slowly limping his way to the cave entrance. "I see you gaze out over that forest like some trapped animal wanting escape."

"Is this another lecture on patience?"

A smile crossed his face. "No. But you are right, we need to move."

Karra's face lit up, and she turned back to the forest.

"But not until daylight. We need to see were we are going, and we can't now." He hobbled next to her, leaning heavily on the cave wall. "I still need to heal. We both need to rest." He placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her to look at him. "We both have a very long day ahead of us."

Karra watched his back as he limped down the tunnel. She hadn't thought about the work required to slog through snowdrifts much higher than what they were when she arrived. Even the spaces between the drifts were deep. The creature looked up at her, chirped, and skittered into the cave after Tari. She cursed her own restlessness and impulsiveness. 

Tari leaned against the side of the cave in the main cavern, his injured leg lying straight in front of him. His pant leg from mid-thigh down was gone, lying in a heap at his side. Tari's eyes were closed, he was fully immersed in the Force, urging it to soothe and heal his wound. The wound itself appeared to be nothing more than a vicious burn, the signs of the infection all but gone. Karra knelt next to him.

The infection may be gone, but his weakened body still fought the last vestiges of the fever. She relaxed, feeling the Force flow through her, directing it to her Master's wound. Tari opened one eye to look at her, and Karra smiled back.

Deep into the night they concentrated on healing his leg. Karra continued long after Tari had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep. Her stomach growled discontentedly.

_"_ _Chiirr? Chirit chirit?"_

"Very hungry, in fact," she replied.

_"Chirrit, chirr chirrir."_

"If you know where to find food, lead me to it." The creature scampered to the tunnel entrance. "Tomorrow, lead me to it tomorrow."

The creature appeared to be disappointed. It scampered next to Tari, regarding his wound. "Looks worse than it is," Karra explained, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

_"Chirr."_

Karra laughed, lying on the soft sand next to a softly snoring Tari. "Good night, strange little creature."

Runs With Shadows raised her head from her meditations. The life of the forest, though weak, comforted her. The pain of the spores burrowing into the skin of the forest and sapping the roots of their life haunted the edges of her vision.

A small cave, halfway up a rocky cliff, a rock fall cascading from its mouth. Steam rose lazily from it in the cool night air, drifting peacefully on errant breezes. The claws of the branches reached for the steam as if to hold it to the ground.

A young girl leaned against the cave wall, gazing out over the dying forest. An older man, though still young and handsome, limped up to her and leaned heavily on the wall behind her. The life rose to greet them, and they could sense it.

Runs With Shadows had wondered if the pilot was telling the truth about the two Jedi. Now she knew that he was correct.

Walking Tall was standing behind her, arms crossed over his chest. "Has the vision shown you anything?" His voice was coarse with age.

"Yes, my chief. The pilot was correct, there are two Jedi at the mouth of the steaming cave."

Walking Tall relaxed, sitting next to her. Browning scurried up to rest on his knee, its wings folded tight around its body. He petted it absently. "We need to get them to the village and find out what they know."

Runs With Shadows gazed out over the deep snowdrifts at the edge of the clearing. "I doubt it would be easy. They might be hungry, and one of them was limping, he might be injured."

Walking Tall stood suddenly, the familiar scooped up in his hand. "Then I will send out a search party." Browning chittered happily.

"He knows something." She stood, staring deep into the creature's eyes.

_"Chirr chirrr chirit chirrit chirrr. Chit chiirit chitirrrr."_

"He's not sure for certain, but he thinks there is another."

"Another what?" Walking Tall's brow creased, the creature happily chittering away in his hands.

"He thinks the Jedi has found a cousin of his, a much younger cousin."

Walking Tall nodded. "Then would you be willing to lead the rescue party? We have two possibly hungry and probably injured Jedi holed up in a cave with one of Browning's relatives for company."

She smiled. "It would be my pleasure."

"Redoak and Climbing Tree will go with you."

Runs With Shadows bowed. "Thank you, my chief. I will not dishonor you."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are the last person to dishonor me. You will leave tomorrow at first light."

Runs with Shadows watched her chief as he strode away from her, his back erect and proud. She gathered up Browning as it scurried from Walking Tall to her arms. It chittered happily in the warmth of her arms, its slender wings hanging askew. Browning had only awakened from its metamorphosis a week ago. Its wings, when spread, were as long from one finger to the other of her arms outstretched. Browning's tail wrapped around Runs With Shadows wrist twice, and its body was as long as her forearm. It looked up at her with its wide brown eyes.

The walk to her shelter, a partially underground building of one central chamber and two smaller attached chambers, was not a long one. She preferred the solitude of the forest to the crowding closer to the core of her village. Domes of snow, under which resided the windowless structures, ruffled the perfect flatness of the large clearing.

A small tunnel, bent to the side to keep out strong winds, led into the warmth of her home. Browning fluttered clumsily to its basket. The walls were decorated with plants and animals, a forest of color cascading down the sloped inner surfaces. A deep firepit held council over the center of the room, a stream of smoke rising lazily to an opening in the roof.

Runs With Shadows gathered up her gear, extra clothes for herself and the Jedi, extra food, medicines, and bandages. As tradition states, the village's shaman does not fight, nor carry any weapons. The trackers, Redoak and Climbing Tree, will defend her, and possibly the Jedi, from whatever threats the forest might present.

She sat back on her heels, surveying her gear. She arranged it, adjusted it over and over. Browning walked up to her, long flight feathers dragging on the hard-packed earth of her floor. _"Chrrrrit."_

Laughing, she set her gear aside. "Yes, my friend. Time to sleep." Browning puffed up the fur of its chest, proud of itself.

She settled next to the fire, her blankets and furs laid out next to her. Climbing Tree was an amicable enough person. He was eager to assist in any rescue mission and was an accomplished tracker. Redoak worried her. His hot temper and general dislike for outsiders colored all of his thoughts. Runs With Shadows knew she could trust him with the mission ahead, but she doubted she could trust him with himself. They needed the Jedi, and she hoped they would understand and forgive the hotheaded Redoak.

That night, they slept wrapped in warm, thick blanket next to a sleepily smoldering fire.

Karra tied the bandage tight around her Master's thigh. The wound was almost healed, but the extra support of the wrapping helped the leg hold Tari's weight.

Tari stood, testing his leg before placing his full weight on it. The creature scurried up his robe, once again burrowing into his sleeve. It chittered at Tari's stomach as a growl rolled from his abdomen.

Tari was content to allow the little creature to join them on their journey. So far, it had refused all attempts at escape and had shown no signs of wanting to leave. Karra gathered up what little gear they had constructed, a thick walking stick and a few sharp rocks to use as knives. The strips of cloth that Tari had used as bandages were cleaned in the snow and wrapped around fingers, hands, feet, necks, and foreheads for warmth.

Karra climbed from the cavern first, a hand ready to steady her Master as he less than gracefully eased himself down. In treating his wound, Tari had lost too much blood for comfort, and the last vestiges of the fever had left him physically weakened as well. She could sense his reaching for the Force, letting it guide which rocks he placed his feet on, which roots to trust his weight with.

She reached the bottom of the rockfall, and a few swift strokes of her lightsaber cleared the path to the forest. The drifts had grown, and both lightsabers danced their way through drift after drift long after they left the cave. Each worked slowly and methodically to prevent sweating and fatigue. The creature helpfully chittered directions at each drift.

Tari was tiring, the cold seeping into every joint. They rested often, but by midday Tari insisted they stop. He leaned against a dead tree, its bark falling off in large flakes as he jostled it. Karra paced, her energy fueling her strength.

"I can cut ahead to make it easier for you," she insisted for the hundredth time that day.

The distant sun blazed down at them, the reflection from the snow blinding. They had wrapped some extra cloth around their eyes. Tari looked at her, barely seeing the shadow of her outline against the brilliant snow. He shook his head, reluctantly giving in to her request. "That might be a good idea, but do not go too far ahead. I want to be able to see you."

"Can't you just sense me?" her impatience colored her voice darkly.

"Too tired."

"Uh huh, I see." Condensation barely tinted her tone, but she held it back. Tari was acting like he didn't trust her. She could sense this life as well as he could, even better since she was not weakened. She had to run ahead, to find help, with her Master slowing her down they might both die. Tari shivered violently. The creature chittered, it tail wrapped around Tari's neck in what appeared to be an effort to keep him warm.

Without a word, Karra activated her lightsaber. She turned to a tangle of branches and cut an opening. Soon, a small shelter large enough for one person emerged.

Tari saw the change in her eyes when he looked at her. She didn't want to prove herself to him, she needed him to trust her now. She would not fail him. Her resolve hardened her eyes. Tari crawled into the space, curling himself into his robes. The creature looked torn between staying with Tari or guiding Karra. It paced in a circle until it scratched a line in the snow, pointed its nose down the line until Karra nodded, then burrowed into Tari's lap.

Karra leaned down, "I will be back as soon as I can."

As fast as the wind, Karra vanished into the snow.

Runs With Shadows gazed into the forest. Travel through the deep snowdrifts was slow, and Climbing Tree had grown impatient and scouted ahead. She adjusted her pack on her shoulders. Redoak scowled at her.

"Why do we need them?" Distaste for an outsider dripped from his words.

Sadly, she replied, "We need their help. The Forest cannot send us visions like the Force can to a Jedi. We have known for centuries that the two do affect each other."

"But a Jedi has never set foot on this world. Why would we need one now?"

A distant tree fell, crashing to the forest floor. "The world is dying, and a Jedi can help us heal it."

"A whole world?" he snorted.

"No, just its soul." She left a stunned Redoak in the shadows of the forest, calming picking her way between the snowdrifts. Runs With Shadows worried about Redoak, his hatred for all things not of this world filled him with a dark shadow. The Dark Side the Jedi call it. No matter what name it is called, it is evil all the same.

Climbing Tree dropped suddenly to the ground in front of her, his hands stained black by the spores. "At least one of them is near, I hear it on the winds."

"Which way?"

Climbing Tree inclined his head, and the small party wove its way through the dying forest.

Karra shivered, her lightsaber melting a path through another snowdrift. The Force and the strange life of the forest guided her away from the setting sun. The snow and sky tinted purple. She paused, wiping her forehead out of habit more than anything else. Voices drifted to her, distorted by the creaking of branches. She stood still, her ears testing the winds.

A small being wrapped in furs stepped calmly into the clearing she had just made in the drift, her lightsaber casting an odd blue light over its face. Bright green eyes, brighter than her own, looked up at her from a masculine face. He placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly.

A small creature, similar in shape to the one that had adopted Tari, but larger and with wingtips dragging on the ground, flounced into the small clearing, already crowded with two people. Her companion wrapped his arms into his sleeves, waiting for someone.

Karra moved back in the clearing, her back to the trail she had made. Her mind was on her Master, and both of their safety.

Two others forced their way through the drift opposite her, an older woman with dark gray hair snaking its way from under her hood, and another man, his shock of bright red hair standing in stark contrast to the deepening purples of the forest. His hood lay on his back, the cold not seeming to bother him as much as it did the others. Hate filled his eyes as he looked across the clearing at the young Jedi.

The older woman stepped forward. "I am Runs With Shadows. You have met Climbing Tree already and this is Redoak." Each bowed their head as they were introduced.

"I am Karra." She motioned back into the forest. "My Master Tari is still out there."

Runs With Shadows nodded. "He must wait, this is not a good time for traveling. Redoak and Climbing Tree will set up camp." The creature scampered up to Karra, sniffing her curiously. The woman smiled. "And this is Browning, my familiar."

Karra and Runs With Shadows retreated to the path Karra had made to stay out of the other party member's way as they constructed the camp. Redoak packed and smoothed the clearing in the snow while Climbing Tree staked a thick tarp over it.

"It looks like the creature that adopted my Master."

Browning fluffed out its wings. "Browning is the final form of it species. They metamorphosize shortly after choosing a, how shall I say this, pet of their own."

_"Chiirt!"_

"Exactly, my friend." Runs With Shadows picked her familiar from the ground, stroking its head.

"What is a familiar?"

"It helps me with my meditations, helps me talk to the Forest. It won't help with the Force, but they are good friends and loyal companions."

A bitter cold wind swept past the pair. Karra looked down the path. "I worry for him."

"Is he injured?"

"He was, but he's still weak."

"The weak do not survive," hissed Redoak. The shadows of the forest deepened, the edges of each tree indistinct. "The shelter is finished."

Runs With Shadows followed Redoak without a word. Karra gazed after them, her thoughts and half a day's travel away.

Tari shivered, the cold of the forest almost unbearable. The creature chittered worriedly, its deep brown eyes gazing up at Tari.

_"Chiiirrrr? Chirit."_

He pulled his robes tighter around himself. The nightly winds were starting their eerie songs. The Jedi sank within himself, imagining the Force grow strong inside of him as heat. His body warmed, but the cold nibbled at vulnerable toes. With his hands tucked under his arms, and his feet curled under his thighs, Tari hunched down on himself for warmth. The creature burrowed into his robes, curling its warm body against Tari's stomach.

Not knowing if the creature could sense the Force or not, Tari sent a small tendril of thanks to it. The creature did not respond to the tendril of gentle Force, Tari hadn't expected it to.

The winds whispered his worries. Many years ago, Tari had knelt over the body of his Master on a forgotten moon after the ship they were in was attacked by pirates. It had crashed, abandoning Tari when he was still a Padawan. The almost overwhelming sense of loss he had experienced was not something he wanted to subject Karra to. He had survived, and finished his mission.

He had no doubt that the strong spirit of Karra would survive if his did not. But she was not yet ready. Deep within his soul, he knew she was still too impulsive, too quick to anger. She still had so much to learn. In retrospect, the Padawan stranded on the moon was ready to proceed, his hesitation tempered by a need to act. It seemed to be easier to learn action than to learn patience.

The winds howled deep into the night, and Tari fought to stay awake. To fall asleep, to lose his concentration meant certain death. The creature assisted Tari in staying conscious, a nibble here or a cold nose there kept the Jedi awake. The snow piled deep outside of his shelter, soon blocking the howling winds.

He reached out to his Padawan.

Karra sipped on a sweet tea, the fluid flowing down to warm her stomach. Redoak pulled aside the skin covering the door. Show dusted his shoulders and melted into his hair.

"The storms are getting worse."

Runs With Shadows nodded sadly from her place across the fire from Karra. "They seek to wipe this dying forest from this world."

"What is it about this world?" Karra leaned forward, her keen green eyes focused on the older woman. "Ever since my Master and I landed here we have been sensing some kind of life. What is it?"

Runs With Shadows sighed, resting her hands in her lap. The warmth from the fire seeping into every weary bone. Slowly, she began to speak. "Thousands of years ago, my ancestors and the ancestors of Redoak and Climbing Tree came here from another world to seek out a peaceful existence. But their crops failed and hundreds starved." Her gray eyes gazed deep into the fire. "Then one of us had a vision. A young woman reached into the Forest and gave her life to it to save her people. The Forest understood and respected her sacrifice. Ever since then, the crops have never failed if we followed the vision of our shamans."

"And you are a shaman?"

"Of the Yellow Brook village, yes. I had my first vision when I was five. From then, I went to be trained and returned to serve my village, much as the Jedi serve the Senate."

"What is this Forest?"

She shook her head sadly. "No one is sure. The Forest to my people is the Force to yours, a few can touch it and understand it, but the concepts can only be successfully understood by one who can sense it. Can you sense it?"

"No, only push against it, like there is something next to the Force. They seem to interact with each other."

"They do." Runs With Shadows shifted, pulling two rocks from her robes. One was a clear crystal, the other a multicolored stone of reds and greens. She held up the crystal. "This is the Light Side of the Force. It is mysterious, but clear in its meaning. The will of the Force is a tangible concept. A confusing concept, but still tangible." She held up the other stone, the firelight glinting off the deep greens, lending a hint of blue to the depths. "And this is our Forest. Mysterious, haunting, ever shifting and never quite the same. To understand the Forest is to be the Forest. It sends me visions, but the Forest is not as widespread as the Force, its visions center around its own wellbeing. And they are vague. When there is something wrong with it, there is no way to tell exactly what."

"But if the Forest can affect the Force, then the Force can send a vision to a Jedi."

Hope filled Runs With Shadows eyes. Redoak turned his back on them in the cramped space. She could sense a disturbance in him, a deep hatred tempered by time. Runs With Shadows prompted Karra. "You have had such a vision?"

Karra shook her head. "No, but my Master has."

"Fever dreams more like it," growled Redoak.

The fur bristled on the back of Karra's neck. "No, he had many, all of fire. We need to burn the Forest to kill the spores."

Runs With Shadows was shocked. "Never! The Forest is my home, my livelihood, it is everything I have known."

"It is dying," Karra whispered softly.

"I shall meditate on this," Runs With Shadows curtly replied. Redoak snorted at her, flinging himself onto his sleeping fur and pointedly turning his back to the Jedi.

Karra left the shelter, her robes wrapped tight about her slim frame. Climbing Tree greeted her from his sentry post. He gazed sadly into the forest. "I heard what you said to Runs With Shadows," he whispered softly, the wind ruffling his hair.

"And you're going to tell me that I can't do it, even if it means saving this world?" Her tone was bitter.

He shook his head sadly. "I spend more time in the Forest than either of those two combined. I have seen it decay and die these past few years. I have sat in the council meetings and heard time and time again our request for a Jedi refused. I convinced the council to spy on the Senate, to tell us when a Jedi was nearby."

"Then you kidnapped us."

"Regrettable, but true." He was sitting, his knees pulled into his chest, looking oddly vulnerable. "Sometimes we have to do what we don't want to in order to survive."

Karra looked out into the forest. "Will my Master survive?"

Climbing Tree regarded her from under his hood. "If he is strong, yes."

"But he's so weak, with his wound…"

He shook his head, placing a hand on her arm. "If his spirit is strong he will survive. You must not go out to find him, not when the night winds are blowing. Trust the Forest, it will not let him die."

Karra snorted. "Trust this and trust that, everybody asks me to trust! I get tired of it."

Climbing Tree smiled, "We all do. But sometimes we are given no choice. We must trust the Forest, the Force, and even your Master to survive." He stood. "When will you be coming in?"

"Soon." Her thoughts reached out to Tari.

_I am alive_, the winds whispered. The Force washed over her like a small distant wave. A tendril of thought tempered by the freezing winds tickled her senses. Tari was alive.

She smiled, heading back to shelter for some much-needed rest.

A dozing and cold Tari was awakened by the blue tip of Karra's lightsaber peeking in through the snowdrift that had covered his shelter and held whatever heat he had inside. In scant seconds, Karra's face was through the hole, one arm reaching for her Master. They clasped arms, her grip was strong. Karra seemed worried about the apparent lack of strength in Tari's grip.

She pulled her head out, widening the hole. Three others were with her. An older woman, and two men, one with angry red hair, the other calm and serene. The man with the red hair leaned into the shelter and pulled Tari roughly from it. He could sense Karra's annoyance at the man, and the disturbance within him. He was a very angry man.

The calm man helped Tari to his feet, and the older woman wrapped a warm blanket about his shoulders. The creature crawled out of Tari's robes to curl up on his shoulder. The woman looked at the creature oddly, another larger creature perched on her shoulder chittered a welcome.

"How are you?" Karra's odd eyes peered up at Tari.

"Nothing some food and a warm bed won't fix."

"Tari, I would like you to meet Runs With Shadows, Redoak," the red haired man shorted and vanished into the forest, "and Climbing Tree." The calm man bowed. Runs With Shadows looked uncertain.

"You don't want to burn it, do you?" Tari said softly.

Runs With Shadows narrowed her eyes. Ignoring his question, she knelt to peer closer at the disturbed fabric of his pant leg. "We will camp here for the night." She motioned towards Tari's leg, looking up at him. "If you don't mind, I would like a look at this wound of yours."

Tari nodded, untying the strips of fabric that kept his pant leg up. Runs With Shadow snorted. "Looks like a burn, not a wound from this forest. " She seemed pleased with herself, as if by one wound she could discount everything the Jedi have said.

"It is now." At her confused look, Tari continued, "Our lightsabers and sharp rocks were all we had to cut with."

The shaman knelt closer to the wound, tracing the raged edges with her fingers. She sank into the Forest, calling on it, asking it for its help. She chanted softly.

The Forest rose faster than she had ever experienced. Somewhere in the Forest, she heard the Jedi man gasp is surprise or pain, she couldn't tell. The Forest was all. It reached into her mind, pleading, the wound hot under her fingers. Something pushed against the Forest, another energy, it was weak, but insistent.

The life of the Forest wrapped around her hands, around the bare thigh and jagged wound of Tari. She could see the infection wrought by the spores that were killing the trees. And the fire of the lightsabers that vanquished them.

She pulled back, her hand falling to her side. Silently, she reached into her pack for some ointment, rubbing it on Tari's leg.

"I can't believe it," she whispered. "You would have died if it wasn't for your lightsabers. The heat of those blades is what killed the spores. We have tried everything, every chant, every meditation, even herbicides and fungicides. Nothing has ever worked. The spores would come back."

"Sometimes we must do what we never want to do." Karra looked at her Master in surprise. He waited for Runs With Shadows to finish wrapping his wound.

"You didn't want to stay behind," Karra stated.

Climbing Tree and Redoak busied themselves with the new shelter, while Runs With Shadows knelt quietly on the ground, placing her medical supplies back into her bag.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, I didn't. But for me to continue to travel with you would have meant both of our deaths." They watched in companionable silence as the two trackers finished with the shelter. The snow was tinted purple with twilight before it was done. It was larger than the first shelter Karra had stayed in. Redoak had started the fire, and soon the shelter was comfortably warm.

Tari slept deeply that night, warm food in his belly and a content creature curled against his side. Karra, however, was restless.

She paced the outside of the shelter, her footprints packing a hard path around the front half of the structure.

Climbing Tree watched her from his perch high above the shelter. Her odd grace and striking looks appealed to him. She had a temper, but it was controlled with an odd wisdom. She cared for her Master much, he was like family to her. He watched her stalk into the shelter, and he could hear her settle down for the night.

Soon, it would be time for Climbing Tree to settle down himself, start a home, a family. He envisioned a laughing Karra surrounded by green-eyed children. Somehow, he doubted she would be content in just one place. Climbing Tree settled deeper into his perch. He was not Human. His people, who had forsaken their name in favor of the People of the Forest, resembled Humans in several respects. But his toes were longer, prehensile. His senses keener. He looked Human, almost.

Like Karra, with her strange eyes and soft gray fur. Human, almost.

The shadows danced their eternal dance across the soft swell of the snowdrifts, caressing them like a gentle lover. The oddly sensual rise and fall of the snow, the handlike indigo shadows easing their way along the surface. He focused on the snow, the shadows, his feet wrapped around the branch he was perched on.

That night, Climbing Tree dreamed of Karra.

Runs With Shadows greeted her guests and traveling companions over a breakfast of hot stew. The older Jedi looked better, his eyes brighter, his color improved. He chatted in small bursts with his more talkative Padawan. The odd girl could sit for hours and talk about anything, but only if she was comfortable with her company. As soon as Redoak or Climbing Tree entered the shelter, she would become very quiet and watch their every move.

Like a caged animal the girl was. The shaman could see in her body language the distrust she placed in men, even her own Master. Tari's unspoken words were of encouragement and patience, he never edged too close to his Padawan, but he included her in everything he did. With his gentle wisdom and patient ways, he seemed to be drawing out the hesitant Karra.

Karra entertained them with stories of her homeland and other tales she had learned along the way. The young Jedi was hesitant about only one thing, men.

Climbing Tree sat across from her, his eyes glued to her every move. His attentions seemed to make her uncomfortable, and she shied from him. Tari sensed something, the Jedi's senses alert and responsive, but Karra would wave him off. Runs With Shadows leaned back and considered Climbing Tree. He was young, just old enough to marry. He was a good tracker, his restlessness sending his spirit wandering deep into the Forest. There were few people who knew as much about it as he did. He would make a fine husband one day, but not to a Jedi, and not to Karra.

Rested from the night's sleep, Tari assisted the others in breaking camp, his superior height making him tower over Redoak and Climbing Tree. Climbing Tree chatted nonstop with the older Jedi, with every other question about Karra. Soon, those questions went unanswered. Runs With Shadows watched sadly as Redoak avoided the two Jedi. Angry glares and a turned back was his morning conversation.

To his credit, the still somewhat weak Tari carried his share of their camp, a tarp slung over his shoulder and supplies tucked into the folds. Karra danced playfully ahead, her lightsaber dividing the snowdrifts as she pleased.

Whenever possible, Climbing Tree would walk up to Karra, his eyes full of hope. They had reached a frozen stream, the surface slick and shiny.

Climbing Tree stood behind Karra, her blue-frosted black hair ruffling in the cold breeze blowing down the stream. "How long have you been Tari's Padawan?"

She looked over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Because I wish to know you better."

"I would rather not be known better." Karra leapt over the stream, vanishing behind a bush.

Runs With Shadows approached him, "She is not meant for you."

Climbing Tree steeled his jaw. Redoak sauntered up, Tari bringing up the rear. "Don't you know, Climbing Tree," Redoak taunted, "Jedi have no families."

Tari looked down into Climbing Tree's eyes as he walked past. The small man beseeched Tari, "You must have a wife, a child somewhere? You are old enough."

The Jedi shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry to say, Redoak's right. We are so busy going from one planet to the next trying to preserve peace and justice that very few Jedi ever find time for a family. What we do becomes our family."

"I don't believe that!"

The dark blot of Climbing Tree's anger rose to the forefront. "Believe it, I have not seen my parents or any possible siblings since shortly after I came to the Jedi Temple for my training."

"Can you ever go back to them?"

Tari gazed far off into the trees, a dense jungle of many years ago tinting his vision. "You can never go back."

Climbing Tree stormed off into the forest, his anger seething deeply. Runs With Shadows placed a cool hand on Tari's arm. "You lost someone, didn't you?"

"A long time ago on a forgotten moon. I still miss him, but not as much as I used to."

She nodded, "Good, it is time for his spirit to rest, for you have another restless spirit to worry about."

"My Padawan is a restless spirit, isn't she?" A smile quirked the edges of his lips.

"Not as restless as Climbing Tree, I'm afraid. In my society, it is customary to choose a suitable wife when a man comes of age. Most women do not have a say in the matter at all. I was lucky, as a Shaman I can never be chosen as a wife."

Tari looked thoughtful for a moment. "I had wondered why he had asked me all those questions about Jedi and their families. He didn't believe me when I told him that we don't have families. I was raised in the Jedi Temple. Few Jedi even know who their parents are."

"Sad, not to know one's heritage."

Tari ran a hand through his hair, the dark brown strands escaping from the thong that held them back. "More often than not, it is better not to know."

Runs With Shadows regarded the Jedi, her eyes sad. "Then how do you live with it?"

He stared off into the forest, watching the play of shadows on snow. "Most of us just don't think about our families." He chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully. "I have a large family, and I grew up not too far from them. But so much of my life is needed for the good of others, I simply lack the time to visit with them."

"They must miss you."

"The Jedi who enrolled me into the Temple explained to them what would happen. There were no secrets, and they released me into the Jedi's care."

Runs With Shadows eyes opened with shock. "How could they, just give you to strangers like that? And to give you no choice in the matter!"

Tari smiled slightly to himself. "In retrospect, I am glad that they did what they did. Without proper training, I might have gone to the Dark Side. At the Temple, I met new people, learned new things. All I would have never seen or learned otherwise. It was a great opportunity. And now I have my own Padawan; to see her mature into her powers and into a woman is something that I would never pass up."

The Shaman gathered up her walking stick, picking her way across the frozen stream. "I will never fully understand you, Jedi Knight." She paused briefly, meeting his eyes with her own, "But I see that we walk a similar path."

Tari limped after her as she continued to speak. "I was taken from my family when I was about your Padawan's age and starting to come into my own powers. I protested, but they finally persuaded me to go with the elders and master my talents. For that, I am grateful. But I speak to my family more often than you do yours, I presume."

Tari laughed softly. "All too correct!"

Climbing Tree fell into step behind them, having cut the trail into the snowdrifts. "Walks With Shadows," he began, "We should arrive at the encampment before sundown."

She nodded. "Very well. Since you travel much faster than us, would you go ahead and prepare them for our guests?"

The tracker bowed, vanishing into the snowdrifts. 

The day passed, cold and inhospitable. Tari and Karra walked at the rear of the small party, robes wrapped tightly around their shoulders. The older Jedi was holding up well, but he would need to rest soon. Karra stayed close to her Master, making a game of sorts of placing her feet right where his had been. The challenge was not to be stepped on by the much larger Tari. He indulged her play, sometimes stopping abruptly or changing strides. The Force pulled softly in Karra as she listened intently, trying to sense what Tari would do next. Karra's innocent play soon became another lesson.

Abruptly, the trees thinned, opening onto a large clearing dotted with mounds of snow. Redoak vanished, his footsteps angling straight to the center of the mounds. Runs With Shadows led them to a mound closer to the edge of the forest. Climbing Tree lingered, a torn expression darting across his face.

The old Shaman placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Go, tend to your home, my young friend. I will provide shelter for the Jedi."

"But Karra…"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Should stay with her Master."

The Force shied away from Climbing Tree's sudden rush of anger. He turned on one heel and stalked off to the mounds. Sadness filled Runs With Shadow's eyes.

Karra's soft voice wafted to her, "What does he want with me?"

The Shaman turned to look at her, the Jedi appearing so very innocent, so very immature. "He wants to make you his wife."

She paled, backing into the support of Tari. "I-I can't do that!"

Tari held firmly onto her shoulder. "I know that your people are not Human, Runs With Shadows. I doubt that Climbing Tree knows how slow we sometimes mature."

Karra looked up at her Master. He had called her Human. Karra the Half-Blood. Karra the Freak. And Tari accepted her as herself, as Karra the Jedi, Karra the Human. Newfound respect filled her eyes.

Runs With Shadows didn't seem to notice the difference. "My people do mature faster than most others." Her gaze followed Climbing Tree's footsteps. "But I will talk with him later. You both must be very tired."

They walked around a mound, the snow on one side cleared away to the frozen ground. Karra's eyes darted from shadow to shadow. Tari sensed her raise the Force around herself, an invisible shield against the prying eyes of Climbing Tree.

The entrance was bent awkwardly to one side, shielding the surprisingly large structure from the winds. A fire already crackled in the central hearth. Tari paused, inhaling the warm air. Browning chittered happily, skittering to its basket and curling inside. One wing hung out, dangling almost to the floor.

Animals danced and ran across the curved inner surface of the dome. Karra traced one older image with her finger, a slender quadruped with one leg pawing the air. "It's like the one I saw in the cave."

Runs With Shadows stopped and stared at the Padawan, her eyes pleading for more information. "When we were in the cave, I had a vision of a small man with fur on his back painting an animal that looked just like this." Wonder tinted her tone. "I could sense his pride, his respect."

"That is a Tree Deer. It is sacred to my people."

Tari lowered his pack to the ground, sitting carefully next to it. "The paintings are beautiful. I don't remember as much about the cave as Karra does."

Runs With Shadows placed a pot over the fire, some water sloshing over the side and hissing into the flames. Her voice passed into the past, becoming distant and wise. Karra sat next to her Master, all senses attuned to the old Shaman's story. "Many thousands of years ago, my people roamed the forest like wild animals." With each sentence, she added bits of herbs or vegetables and meat to the stew.

"We killed our prey without regard to the spirit of the animal and ate the meat raw." A fat slice of a tuber-like vegetable plopped into the pot. "A warrior wandered into the Forest one day and became lost. For days he wandered, eating only the moss on the trees. There were no more animals to be found, for they had all shunned my people." A chunk of meat sunk into the stewpot.

"The warrior wandered until he came upon a cave, weak with hunger. In the cave lived a Shaman. He beseeched her, asked her for food, but she refused." Runs With Shadows motioned to the Jedi with her knife. "For this young woman was pregnant. She wouldn't starve herself or her child to feed the warrior. " The chamber was filled with the meaty scents from the stew, taunting empty stomachs.

"In anger, he left, but soon regretted his choice. The warrior wandered the Forest, more hungry than ever. Then one day, he went back to the cave and knelt by a tree in front of it. He asked it for help, for food. The tree's voice boomed over the Forest. 'Respect us, and you shall live. Honor us, and you shall eat.'. The warrior was stunned by these words. How do you respect an entire forest?"

Tari leaned back on his pack, enthralled. "So, the warrior went to the Shaman," she continued. "He went to her and repeated the words of the Forest. 'Respect us, and you shall live. Honor us, and you shall eat.' The Shaman told him to go forth into the forest and gather all the colors of the wild he could. Many days later, the warrior returned, his arms full of all the colors of dirt, leaves and every flower he could find. He did not have the color she was looking for, and so she sent the warrior once more into the Forest. When he returned, he had all the colors of feathers, fur and scales hanging from his arms. Once again, the Shaman was turned him away."

"But he gathered all of the colors," Karra protested.

Walks With Shadows smiled. "You of all people should know that it is never that easy."

The young Jedi looked away, ashamed. Walks With Shadows placed a hand under her chin, forcing Karra to look in her eyes. "Don't be ashamed, young Jedi. Every day is a new lesson," she looked over to Tari, "For all of us."

The stew simmered happily above the fire. "The Shaman was about to send him into the forest again, but the life within her stirred. Soon, a daughter was born, and the child walked to a nearby stream. The warrior followed the child. She reached into the water and pulled all the colors of the sky from it. In her hands rested all of life, and she handed it to the warrior. Then she reached up into the sun and pulled forth the life of its light, the very fire that kept the Forest alive. She handed the new colors to the warrior. The colors of the sun were hot in the warrior's hands, but he cradled the new colors in the cool breeze of the sky colors. 

"'You have what you need,' she said in a voice like the winds. 'You brought forth the colors of this world to my mother, the Shaman, now take to her the colors of this life. Together, the colors will join and save your world. If you follow her teachings.'

"Satisfied, the Forest reached down to her, a branch touching either side of her head. The Shaman's daughter leaped into the air, landing as a Tree Deer with eyes as blue as the bluest sky and as deep as a mountain lake. The hair on her sides was the bronze of the setting sun, spots of gold dancing along her back. She bowed to the warrior, vanishing into the Forest with nothing but a whisper of wind."

Walks With Shadows paused, resting her hands on her knees. "The warrior carried the colors to the Shaman in the cave. 'You have done well,' she said. 'Now I can make all of the colors to repair what your people had done to this world. Never again forget what you have learned here.'

"The warrior bowed his head. 'I will not, Shaman.'"

Karra leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees. "The Shaman took all of the colors of life that the warrior had discovered and flung them against the wall, chanting to the heartbeat of her daughter. She sang, 'dances on winds, the heartbeat of my daughter, beats along the roots, the soul of my daughter, swims in the water, the eyes of my daughter, runs along the trees, the spirit of my daughter.'

"The warrior was so sad at the Shaman's loss and the beauty of her song that he cried. When his tears fell upon the ground, they sprang forth in the forms of all the animals that had abandoned the people of the Forest. He gathered up his colors and stepped up to the wall, chanting the song of the Shaman and painted the first animal of the Forest.

"He went home that day with and armful of meat for his village, and he taught them the wise words of the Shaman. His daughter became a Shaman, and her daughter became a Shaman. As has my daughter."

Runs With Shadows ladled up the stew, handing a deep bowl to the two Jedi. "That's a wonderful story," Karra said, accepting her bowl of stew.

"Though story doesn't seem to be the proper word," Tari remarked between mouthfuls.

"It is the legend of how my people came to be," Runs With Shadows sat on the floor, cross-legged with her bowl full of stew in her lap.

"Your heritage is valuable to you," Karra softly observed.

Runs With Shadows nodded. "It is what my people are, without our heritage, we are nothing." She motioned to Tari and Karra with her spoon. "That is why you Jedi are so hard for us to understand. You have no family, no heritage. And there is no legacy you leave behind."

"We leave behind peace." Tari set his bowl down, the stew warming his stomach. He placed a hand on Karra's shoulder. "My legacy will live on in Karra, as my Master's legacy lives in me."

"But you have no heritage."

"The Jedi Code," Karra placed her bowl inside Tari's. "It is more than a way of life, it is what we are." Irritation clouded the lower tones of her voice. "It is what the Jedi have always been."

The old Shaman mulled over their words while Browning crawled out of his basket to lick the leftover stew from her bowl. "I think I understand. My people value the bloodlines, all of my mothers were Shamans. But your parents were not Jedi." Both Jedi nodded.

"Some Jedi do have parents that can use the Force, but that is rare," Tari said.

"But your heritage is not one of blood," Runs With Shadows continued. "It is a heritage of peace and concepts. A heritage of what you have been taught passed down from one generation to the next."

Excitement burst forth from Karra. She seemed relived that she didn't have to explain herself or her motives to these strange people. Tari and Runs With Shadows both noticed the changed and laughed, with Karra joining in soon after.

That night was spent in deep, peaceful sleep.

"We will not burn down the sacred Forest!" screamed Eight Branches. "I will not sit idle while these offworlders tell us we must destroy our home!"

Approval ruffled through the crowd. "But what about the spores?" asked an anonymous voice.

Eight Branches rose his fist in anger, the elder's hair flying out behind him. "We will continue to research a way to kill these spores without killing our home." Hate flowed from the man. "I will not listen to the false visions of those two." Venom dripped from his eyes as he glared at the Jedi.

Karra half-stood, her hand on her hip where her lightsaber usually hung. She sat back down, Tari's hand on her arm. He stood, towering over the gathering. Calm gray eyes looked deep into the souls of every person sitting in the large subterranean council room. Most looked away in shame, and all became silent under the Jedi's gaze. Karra's quick temper was stilled by the silent patience of her Master.

Clear blue eyes looked defiantly into Tari's. Eight Branches' anger was almost visible as a gray haze seething around his form. "I will not burn the Forest."

"Then your people will die," Tari replied, calmly and matter of factly. "I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you that the only way to kill the spores is with heat." His arm swung out, motioning to the Forest outside. "Most of those trees are already dead. One hot summer and a firestorm could start that you won't be able to stop. At least during winter the fire can be contained, you are underground and safe, the animals are hibernating or have migrated to a warmer climate. If you want to kill the spores with fire, now is the time."

"But what about our Forest?" a soft female voice asked from somewhere to his left.

Karra stood, all anger gone from her. "I know some forests only send their seeds out after a fire. This could be one of those. Have you seen any saplings for a while?"

"Not since we first saw the spores." A young tracker stood, "About five years ago. There has been no new growth since then."

Redoak sat to the side, his head rested in one hand, angry eyes taking in every word whispered and yelled. Deep inside, the need to kill the spores and save his people rose. To continue living in a dying forest would mean the death of his people, of his way of life. Redoak refused to sit idle while the doddling fools that never ventured any farther than the berry fields surrounded the summer camp decided his fate. He stood, walking next to the fuming Eight Branches. He placed a hand on the older man's arm.

"I hate the offworlder's as much as you do, maybe more. But I know truth when I see it. When I make my fires at night, the spores burn off and die, leaving good wood behind. We need to burn it. We need to save our people."

Karra was surprised by Redoak's sudden turnaround, and sat back down abruptly. Tari raised one eyebrow. Hate welled up inside Eight Branches. "NEVER!" the older man screamed, pushing Redoak to the side and running up to the Jedi, the other members of his village moving quickly out of his way. He grabbed onto Tari's robe, pulling the taller man down to breathe angrily in his face. "I will not let you."

The Force warned Tari, rising up in him. Karra sensed the change and backed away, leaving plenty of room for her Master. A low bass rumble filled the room, emanating from the Jedi. His eyes became slits and Eight Branches could feel the subtle vibrations of the Force summoned by a Jedi Knight fill the room. Every nerve ending tingled with the energy of the Force, unsettling tremors of power that barely told of their true strength.

The people in the gathering held their breath, and Eight Branches' taunt died before it was spoken. The older man dropped the knife he had hidden in his robes. "I was not asked to come here," Tari growled. "Karra and I could have died in that Forest because of you. But I sensed that I was needed, sensed that my Padawan and I could help. I did not ask to be threatened."

Eight Branches let go of Tari's robe, and the Force settled back into the rhythms of life. The Jedi smoothed his robe out, as unruffled as ever. He continued, "I want to see this forest burned down as much as you do. But sometimes you have to do what you don't want to to achieve the greatest good."

The older man backed down, silent. Karra stared up at her Master in a whole new light. She had started to believe that he did not possess a temper, but it was there, carefully controlled and deeply contained. Karra was suddenly ashamed of her own quick temper.

Redoak stood, all eyes on the red-haired tracker. "I will side with the offworlders," the world was still spoken as a curse. "We need to save our world."

He walked up to the Jedi, "Who is with me to save our world?" 

One by one, the people present stood, nodding their heads at Redoak. Eight Branches' face darkened in anger and he stalked from the room.

Redoak stared at his back. "He will be trouble." Tari nodded is agreement.

"What made you decide that burning the Forest was for the best?" Tari asked softly.

"I knew it in my soul, just like you did." He glared at the Jedi. "But that still doesn't mean I like you."

"I understand," Tari held up his hands in defense.

"What will we do now?" a youth, slightly older than Karra, stood forward.

Panic flowed from the crowd. Karra took a step back, the sudden wave of emotions crashing against her defenses. Tari held his hand out and the Force flowed from him, his words backed by its power and his formidable will. "You will survive." The panic ebbed, confusion tingling its edges.

Walking Tall, silent throughout the entire meeting, stood tall, towering over the gathering. "Gather your families and supplies. We will hunt heavy this coming month and prepare for the rebirth of our Forest. Runs With Shadows will pray and honor it, as will we all."

His calm wise words eased the gathering. "Tonight," he continued, "We will celebrate the life the Forest has given us these thousands of years. Tomorrow, we prepare."

Agreement flowed from the gathered people, and Runs With Shadows cupped her wrinkled hands around the fire and began her tales.

"A young maiden was jealous of the clouds, 'Oh, how high and free you are!' she would say to the clouds…."

Tari left Karra to enjoy the old Shaman's tales. He stood just outside the bent entrance, the cool twilight breeze ruffling his hair. Redoak stood next to him, the younger man using every breath of tolerance he had. "Your words are wise, offworlder. But are you willing to carry them out?"

"What you do with your lives is not my decision. I am pleased that you chose to burn the spores, but had you chosen the other way, I wouldn't have stood in your path."

"Walk with me." Redoak stalked away from the large mound, and Tari followed. Soon, they were at the edge of the clearing, the darkening forest rising like twisted skeletons out of the snowdrifts. "I have watched this forest die ever since a ship landed here. Eight Branches had tried to trade some goods with the offworlders, but they refused. Instead, they stole our goods and left us these spores."

Tari could sense Climbing Tree's presence not too far away. The younger man must be watching them. The spores lifted away in Tari's hand as he placed it on the trunk of a tree. Small black clouds drifted to stain the snow. "I will help you," he whispered.

Redoak nodded his satisfaction, turned and walked back to the village.

The Forest was at peace that night. A calm silence like a comfortable blanket had descended with the setting of the sun. The Forest knew its fate, and it was more than happy to accept it. People began to filter from the large central mound and drift to their own homes in small groups. Some were crying, but most were happy. A new life for their people was to start when the sun rose several days from now. The Living Force reached to him, bringing on its breezes the acceptance of the villagers tinted with hesitation and anger. It seemed like more than just Eight Branches wanted to refuse to burn the Forest.

Karra trotted up to Tari, her face flush with excitement. "Master! I wondered where you wandered off to, you missed the most wonderful story!"

He smiled at her enthusiasm, and handed her back her lightsaber. She held it to her chest. "Thanks for keeping this with you, I'm beginning to see the virtues of patience."

"Not easy, is it?"

"Hardest thing I have ever done was not to attack Eight Branches," she looked to the ground, "Except leaving you in that Forest. You didn't want to stay, did you?"

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "No, I didn't. But I realized we all must do what we don't want to at times." The Force pushed against his senses, warning him.

"What is it?"

Tari reached for his lightsaber. Eight Branches burst from the trees, a blaster in one hand. Tari's brilliant white lightsaber lit up the twilight forest. The older man fired, the bolts deflecting harmlessly into the forest. Soon, Karra's blue weapon danced with her Master's own, and Tari stepped back to let his quicker Padawan block the bolts. He ran into the trees, deactivating his lightsaber but keeping it ready. Every blaster bolt was neatly deflected by Karra's weapon.

Climbing Tree young tracker was amazed. Karra danced as if something else guided her feet. Not once did she misstep. Not once did she miss a blaster bolt as it screamed towards her. She even dodged into the path of the bolts to deflect them harmlessly into the Forest.

Eight Branches swore, his anger fueling his passion. The Master of this pathetic excuse of an offworlder had turned the tide of opinion against him and had threatened him with the Force.

Climbing Tree watched from far above, but soon lost sight of Tari.

The Jedi Knight crept silently from shadow to shadow, all senses alert, and pounced on the irrational Eight Branches. The older man yelled as Tari used the Force to propel the blaster deep into the Forest. Karra walked forward, her lightsaber still activated, its hum growling in the cold night air. "I could kill you," she whispered. She relaxed, deactivating her weapon and hanging it from her belt. "But I won't because I'm not like you."

Climbing Tree gaped. He would have killed Eight Branches, he should still kill him. Karra continued, her voice low and menacing, with a much taller Tari holding Eight Branches at bay. "It is not my way to exact justice."

Tari roughly escorted Eight Branches back towards the village. Walking Tall intercepted them.

The young tracker followed, placing one hand on Karra's arm to stop her. Wonder filled his voice. "You really are different."

Karra's green eyes narrowed, "That is what I have been trying to tell you, Climbing Tree."

"I didn't want to believe you." He looked to the ground, his eyes sad. "I am sorry. I knew you were different, but seeing you fight made me realize just how different. You are needed in too many places and can never be tied down to just this one world." He placed a small wooden figurine in her hand. "Live well, Karra." He turned, vanishing between the mounds.

Karra looked at the half-carved figure of a tree deer, its small head held high. "Live well, Climbing Tree," she whispered.

Tari walked up to her, his captive gone. Walking Tall stood next to him. She could still hear Eight Branches' scream as he was drug off by some other villagers. Tari looked at Climbing Tree's receding footprints and her carving.

"May I?" asked Walking Tall and Karra handed it to him. He examined the small deer. "It is a betrothal carving. But it is unfinished."

"It's from Climbing Tree."

"Ah, he is a fine man, and a good tracker. He would have made a good husband."

Tari coughed into his hand. "Ask Runs With Shadows about Jedi families, Walking Tall."

The chief looked confused, "Are you two mates? She looks young for you, but I am not versed well in the customs of offworlders."

Karra blushed fiercely, but her Master only smiled. "She is my Padawan Learner, my apprentice."

Redoak ran up to them, his face flush with anger. "Eight Branches brought the spores," he growled.

Walking Tree handed the figure back to Karra. "What proof do you have?"

"He was the one who contacted the traders, he was the one who gave the approval to land. I knew his offworld blood was going to be trouble."

The chief growled deep in his throat. "I will deal with Eight Branches. You deal with the new hunts ahead." He motioned for the Jedi to follow him. Walking Tall stopped in front of a mound. "This home has been unoccupied for quite some time, but I had it prepared for you when I heard you were on this world."

Tari bowed in the customary Jedi fashion, and Karra followed suit. "Thank you, Walking Tall."

The shelter was not as big as Runs With Shadows', consisting of only the central chamber and a smaller storage chamber. Two bedrolls lay on either side of a sleepily burning fire. Tari sat down on the roll closest to him, rubbing the slight stiffness out of his almost completely healed wound. Karra sat across from him, pulling off her boots and warming her feet by the fire. "How is it?"

"Better." He stretched out, his hands twined behind his head. "Better get some sleep, Karra. We have a very long month ahead of us."

Karra lay on her bedroll, staring up at the curved ceiling. There were few paintings in their borrowed shelter. The shadows danced around the few paintings, distorting them, making them seem to move. The small tree bent in an unseen wind. A tall, stately tree deer with far too many antlers butted against the tree.

Why would Eight Branches want to bring the spores here? Was he tricked? Karra chewed on her bottom lip.

"I suggest you practice the Jedi sleeping technique I was teaching you a few weeks ago."

Karra smiled at her Master. Even in the dark of the small shelter, he could still sense her agitation. With a sigh, she rolled onto her side, relaxing her body. Karra mediated, her mind alert, her body at rest.

Tari's soft breathing testified that he had done the same.

The smell of smoking meat hung heavy in the cold air. Storage chambers were full to bursting with preserved meat and frozen tubers. For the past month, Karra and Tari had lent their backs and an occasional lightsaber to the preservation of the people as they prepared for the Great Burning, as they had named it.

Ever since that first night after the council meeting, the people of the village had been preparing for the upcoming burn. And all were aware that a burnt out Forest signaled a lack of food.

Browning and the creature that adopted Tari had run off into the Forest shortly after the meeting, returning weeks later with thousands of their kind, now all hidden away in crevices in storage chambers and homes.

The hunts had been good, but not all animals were killed. Tari and Karra used their skills to coax the forest creatures into large pens and cages. Few resisted, and once in the pens, all were oddly calm. Several had even wandered into the pens, their spirits guided by the will of the Forest.

A few days before the Great Burn, Tari was tending to a fence around the largest of the pens. A graceful Tree Deer walked up to him, snuffling at his hands. Tari smiled, obliging the deer by holding out his hand. The life of the Forest rose to greet him, tingling his fingers. A vision of green danced into his head, the fields of saplings tinted with all the colors of the rainbow in the forms of drifts of flowers. Animals of all shapes and sizes grazed among them, the sky a radiant blue overhead.

"No offworlder touches the sacred Tree Deer," Redoak's voice growled behind him.

The deer raised its head, then trotted back to the center of the pen to join the rest of the herd. "I didn't ask for it to come over here."

Redoak snorted, standing beside Tari. He looked over the peaceful gathering of wildlife. "Ever since we decided to burn the Forest, the animals have been acting strange."

"I guess the Forest protects its own." Tari leaned on the fence.

The red-haired tracker stared at him. "You presume to know much about our Forest."

"In some ways, it is similar to the Force." He shook his head. "But I can't sense it. I can sort of feel it push against the Force, nudge it. I can follow it to where it wants me to go, and it seems to be able to affect me through the Force. But Runs With Shadows is able to use it like I use the Force."

"It is nothing like the Force."

Tari shrugged. "Both energies come from the life around us, Redoak. They are as much a part of each other as we are of them." The deer grazed peacefully, pawing at the snow in their pen. "Both energies crave peace and balance."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you are correct there. For the Forest to survive there must be balance. It has been said that for life to continue, life must end." A distant sadness tinted his tone.

Tari turned to look at Redoak. "Perhaps we are not so different as well."

Redoak glared at Tari. "And what do that all-knowing Jedi know of death?" he growled.

"Many years ago, a transport ship I was on was attacked by pirates and crashed on a moon so forgotten it didn't even have a name. I was still a Padawan." Tari lowered his eyes, staring at the hoofprint-dappled snow. "My Master did not survive the crash. I was lost and alone on a hostile world, my only link to my home severed with my Master's death. But Master Yoda at the temple where I was trained was able to contact me. He still had faith in me. I was able to complete my mission and I came home a Jedi Knight."

Tari looked up to the sky, a fat cloud drifting in a sea of impossible blue. "There are times when I miss him. But he is one with the Force now."

Redoak was quiet. "He had a great impact on your life, didn't he."

"Very much. He was the one who showed me I was more than I was making myself out to be. He would throw me to the forefront of every difficult encounter, forcing me to accept what I was capable of doing."

"Your current apprentice thinks differently."

Tari smiled. "Karra is headstrong, and when she learns to relax more, she will make a good Jedi. She is everything I was not at her age."

"I can believe that." Redoak looked over the herd, his eyes distant. "My mentor would take me on long walks in the Forest. She taught me every tree, every plant, every animal and what they meant to my people. She was my parent when my parents were gone."

Tari's gray eyes regarded Redoak. The tracker continued, "My parents were traders. They were ambushed by another cargo ship, their cargo stolen and marooned on some far world. They contacted me, trying to return home, but soon they grew too used to life on another planet. My parents didn't live here for very long after they returned. They had become offworlders, but the forest, my village, and my mentor still accepted me for who I am."

"And I see that they accept even Eight Branches," Tari replied.

"We did. His father was an offworlder. A decent enough man, he obeyed every law we had, and soon took a wife. If there was any taint in Eight Branches' father, it is now all in him." Venom dripped from Redoak's voice. "He is too blind to tradition. We need to save our world and yet he cannot see the life that the death of the Forest would bring."

"It is difficult to burn down one's home."

"Like you are so fond of saying, Jedi, sometimes we must do what we do not want to to do the right thing." The deer in the pen stood next to each other for warmth. "But the Forest agrees with our plan."

Tari nodded, his breath misting on the air. The snow crunched under the deer's hooves. They watched the deer in companionable silence. He smiled when he heard Karra's rough footsteps behind him.

"I though you two would never talk," she remarked.

Redoak swallowed his pride, a smile quirking his lips. "Just had to find something to talk about," Tari replied.

Karra shrugged, skipping off to help with the preparations.

"That one has more energy than this herd of Tree Deer."

Tari laughed. "You have no idea."

The day of the Great Burn loomed near, and Runs With Shadows' stories of the life of the Forest filled the main shelter every night. A new story, as yet unfinished, wove its way into being one cold, clear day.

There was no wind. Every person in Walking Tall's village had their own pile of kindling against a tree surrounding the clearing. Each person had a flaming branch. The impatient shuffling of feet and the soft crackle of the fires echoed throughout the oddly quiet clearing.

When the sun rose high in the impossibly blue sky, Runs With Shadows lowered her branch to her pile of kindling, chanting softly. "Dances on the winds, the heartbeat of my daughter. Beats along the roots, the soul of my daughter. Swims in the water, the eyes of my daughter. Runs along the trees, the spirit of my daughter."

The chant flowed down the line of villagers, each placing their burning branch into their pile of kindling. Tari and Karra watched from afar, standing on the roof of their borrowed shelter. Soon, thick black smoke chased everyone inside.

The fire raged for days, melting the snow, saturating the ground and changing it to mud. Black clouds hung over the clearing, and people began to wonder if they were right in burning down their forest.

Tari could sense the life returning even as the fire blazed. The effort of surviving the spores was gone, replaced by the hidden joys of seeds and still alive and well roots. But he also sensed the doubt and discontent among the villagers. He and Karra stayed in their shelter, lightsabers ready at their sides.

A small pull from the Force, and Tari was on his feet. He held out one hand to signal that Karra was to stay. She all too happily nodded, wrapping her thin arms around her legs. Tari walked from the shelter, and Eight Branches stood before him, hate filling every cell in his body.

"You killed my people! And you told them about the ship!"

"What you did was your choice." The fire roared and a tree fell, scattering blood red sparks to the winds.

"I didn't bring the spores!"

"Then you were tricked."

"Nobody tricks Eight Branches!" He screamed, throwing himself at the Jedi. Tari easily sidestepped the man's rush. Insanity and rage filled the older man's eyes. He howled, intense anger of a like Tari had never seen clouding his vision. The older man drew his knife, rushing Tari again. The Jedi blocked easily, holding his knife hand to the side. Eight Branches pulled, adrenaline pumping in his veins.

The man's strength increased, and he pulled his hand from Tari's grasp. The knife flashed in the firelight, the metal blade stained red by the reflection, Tari dodged again and again. Eight Branches gathered all his strength under himself and charged, smashing into Tari and slamming him against the shelter, the dull side of the knife blade resting against his throat. Karra raced out of the shelter, her lightsaber ready to defend.

"Tell the offworlder to back off or I will kill you," Eight Branches growled, all traces of sanity gone from his voice.

Karra heard the elder's words and backed up a step, he lightsaber held tightly in her hand, her knuckles becoming white with the effort. It was midday, but the smoke blotted out the sun, and a strange half-light of red tinted the clearing. She could feel her feet squish into the mud and the heat of the fire warmed her ready to fight body. Every muscle was relaxed, ready to spring to her Master's aid when the time was right. 

Tari sensed someone gather their energy around themselves and spring. Climbing Tree's foot smashed into Eight Branches face and the two went sprawling, rolling towards the forest. Karra ran to Tari's side, a red line where the knife had pressed against his throat but not into the skin.

Climbing Tree and Eight Branches fought fiercely. They rolled into the flaming forest, the older man screaming in pain and anger. Karra yelled, running to assist. Tari followed, stopping her just short of the Forest's edge, the heat searing their hair. Climbing Tree drug his battered body from the forest, the hilt of Eight Branches' knife sticking out of his chest. Karra ran to him, cradling his head in her lap. She reached desperately into the Force, but it would not come. It knew that the wound was too severe to heal.

Burns covered most of Climbing Tree's exposed skin. He reached a hand up and traced the outline of her jaw. "I will be waiting for you," he whispered. "I will be the tallest tree in the Forest."

Karra lifted his head to her chest, softly crying as his spirit danced away into the Forest. Tari gathered her up, leaving Climbing Tree's lifeless body to the Forest.

EPILOGUE

It had been months since they had visited the cold world of the living forest. Summer blossomed warm on their faces as the Jedi stepped from their transport and greeted the villagers. The creature that adopted Tari had metamorphosized, its wings dangling down the Jedi's back. It had adopted Redoak, the tracker all the more proud for his new companion. He would even be marrying soon.

The Forest was growing back quickly, saplings already taller than Tari. Karra wandered into the blooming and thriving new Forest. A tree, taller than the rest, drew her closer. She knelt by its base, and buried a small wooden lightsaber among its roots. "Make the Forest a strong one, Climbing Tree, I will never forget you."

She chanted softly, "Dancing on the winds, the heartbeat of my friend. Beats in the roots, the soul of my friend. Swims in the water, the eyes of my friend. Grows among the trees, the soul of my friend."

Tari was behind her, and he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder when she stood. "Was it like this when you lost your Master?"

The older Jedi stared out over the forest, his eyes drinking in all the colors of the rainbow drifting among the vivid green trees. He looked down at her. "Remember the joy he brought to your life."

She chewed on her lip, the small tree before her growing tall and strong. "I will miss him."

Tari gently squeezed her shoulder. "I will miss him, too." Karra doubted that her Master referred to Climbing Tree. "But I will go on with my life. I will not let his legacy die here."

Karra fingered the small carving, now hanging from a string around her neck. She pulled it off, hanging it over a branch. "I will remember you, Climbing Tree. Keep this safe for me when I return." She turned, walking back to the village.

Tari looked at her back, mildly surprised. With a simple gesture, she had let go of Climbing Tree and continued her life. The Jedi sat at the base of the tree, his legs folded under him. He meditated, reveling in the strong currents of life that now flowed around this world.

A soft glow filled his vision, and Mar-Dhn sat across from him, the older Master's outline shimmering in the still summer air. His voice echoed across time. _"All these years and you still hold onto my memory, Tari."_

Tari looked up into his transparent face. Mar-Dhn continued. "_You have your own Padawan to care for, to teach. You have become more than what you were when I first chose you as my Padawan. You have done well."_

"Sometimes, I wonder what it would have been like if you had survived."

"_You wonder too much, Tari. You are connected to the Living Force stronger than even Yoda, don't dwell where I am. The Force will be with you_."

Mar-Dhn reached a ghostly hand out to Tari. "_My legacy lives in you, Tari. Don't hold it back by holding too tightly to me. I am one with the Force, I will always be with you. But you need to let go, to remember what I have taught you and to stop wondering how things would be if they were different. Everything happens for a reason, Tari_."

Tari mulled over his words, the wildlife chattering softly behind him. "I will remember."

Mar-Dhn smiled, fading away on the still air.

The Jedi stood, dusting off his robes. He felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. A soft breeze ruffled his hair, for once not bound at the nape of his neck but hanging free to the center of his back. The clouds drifted peacefully along the horizon.

His spirit was at rest.


End file.
